derek has become an activist. right now he's on the phone with the audobon society. see, we have these giant sycamores out in front of our building. each year as summer turns to autumn, they attract a gigantic herd of purple martins that roost and tweet in the trees for about an hour or so each evening. this goes on from maybe august until early october, starting around 8 pm. they socialize for a bit and then go to sleep with tweety little hums.
and when i say gigantic, i mean HUGE! there have been estimates that say we get up to 200,000 birds in our neighborhood every night. the sight is spectacular. they buzz past the spires of a catholic church, take a turn past the hospital, come back around a hotel, and then lackadaisically gather in the trees. they jet between two buildings and flap flap flap past one another in grand formations, soaring up and down like dark pellets in the sky. we love to watch and listen to this in the evening. it's a comforting sign that the seasons are going to change and the world moves along.
some people are not so poetic. they think the birds are a nuisance and that the flock is the devil in the form of bird poop. they hate the noise and think the birds suck. our condo association is trying to remove the sycamores to get rid of the purple martins. how rude! don't they know the martins are protected here? doesn't it seem logical that the birds will just find another nearby set of trees (and we have some more on the other side of the building) to call home for a short time? isn't it silly to go outside of your house banging pots and pans to make 200,000 birds fly away? yes we did see someone trying that last night. just picture it for yourself when you need a good laugh.
our first response to this was to sign the petition to save the sycamores. derek has also been on the phone talking to the up with trees people. his call to audobon led to the finding that other residents have already talked to them several days in a row about this. so it looks like we may be working towards some kind of solution.
we knew when we moved in that the birds came here in the fall. perhaps others weren't so lucky, but that's no reason to get in a tizzy. we also discovered shortly after moving in that the wasps like to fly around our building; like really high up, even. some days i walk out onto my balcony and they pop up to say hello, trying to get in the house to torment the cats. they can go all the way to the 20th floor when they feel like it. these wasps are mostly friendly and just living their waspy lives, but they sure are determined little suckers. as nature would have it, the martins find the wasps quite tasty, so it would seem. voila - problem solved!
isn't this what we call, like, an ecosystem circle of life thingy? duh.
we'll see if the media gets involved. our neighbor is calling the news stations. derek has a project he can get behind, so i am proud of him. in the meantime, we can listen to the birds each night and cuddle on the sofa with the kitties.
i've said it before and i'll say it again:
the world's best cat litter really IS a wonderful thing! sherry converted over to it and thanked me for the shopping advice. finally, something that me and derek and all three cats can agree on for the litter box.
6 comments:
Go, birds! Poop on the meanies' heads.
How utterly bizarre! Is the noise their only objection? I wonder how those people would react to cicadas. I also wonder why they haven't bought some damn earplugs already. Perhaps they think the expense should be covered by their condo fees. Makes you wonder where one could purchase ear plugs in bulk. Hmmm ...
i think these people need to just get a life. how is it that, to them, banging pans is less annoying than little birds?!? yeah, earplugs might be a good investment. that way they can't hear when i sneak up behind them to poke their eyes out.
the birds don't poop on me. they must have a good sense of who likes them and who is a poop themselves.
Okay, What's the brand. Shadow could probably use a great cat little too!
Cicada! One of the most annoying and beloved sounds from my childhood. I can still hear them echoing inside my skull after all these years!
I can imagine the birds will have a similar effect on any kids in the building. Annoying maybe. A fantastic memory, positively!
I stayed a few day in the Condo when the birds were around. I loved the sight and sounds. Even the poop on the jacket wasn't all that bad when you consider the beauty of the whole spectacle when they fly in the during rising or the setting sun hours. It's like being inside a bird tornado for a moment as they fly past the windows.
really, that's the name of it - "world's best cat litter" - when you go to look for it. it's made out of corn and doesn't stink. makes clumps that come out easy and you can flush without it being all dusty and tracky. good stuff.
cicadas never bothered me here. it's those kamikaze junebugs that come after my eyeballs every summer that scare the shit outta me. i still twitch a little when one comes near, but killing their house isn't my style. i find running and screaming much more effective when they get stuck in my hair.
but see, you can attest to how cool the birds really are! woohooo!
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